Marimo Head
by chasingwhispers
Summary: There's plenty of funny & delicious Zoro/Sanji tension after the Thriller Bark arc. The crew land on a strange island where Zoro seems to be a local celebrity...


"Sanji! Food!"

The sun was shining, it was a beautiful day, and Nami had just accepted his special fruity cocktail made with extra orangey love from her own grove. Luffy's monster appetite was not about to ruin it.

"Saaaanji…"

He tilted his head back against the deck and blew a smoke ring into the sky. His aim was perfect and the smoke haloed the sun in a pleasing hazy circle. Maybe once he found All Blue, he'd start entering smoke ring competitions on top of easy cooking contests.

"SANJI!"

He sighed. "What?"

"I'm hungry," came Luffy's whine.

Sanji lifted his head and looked at their captain, lolling lifelessly over the head of Thousand Sunny. "You had lunch five minutes ago."

"It wasn't enough!" Luffy sat up and patted his stomach. "A man needs meat."

"A man of pride, a true man of the sea…" Usopp chipped in. "Needs proper manly food."

"All the time?" Sanji lowered his cigarette and propped himself up on an elbow to glare at Usopp's back where he sat fishing on the railing.

"Whenever his manliness demands it!" Usopp waggled his fishing rod for emphasis.

"You just want more to eat too," Sanji pushed himself upright and lent his back against the mast.

"I would not be adverse to more delicacies," Brooke popped his head from behind the mast and did a little twirl around Sanji. "Even though I don't have a stomach. Because I'm a skeleton! SKULL JOKE."

"Unless Usopp catches something," said Sanji, sensibly ignoring Brooke. "I'm not feeding any of you until dinner-" He stopped himself and looked over at the table on deck where there were two deckchairs and two wonderfully scantily-clad beauties with a tray of cocktails between them. "Except if the ladies want something, of course!" Sanji smiled winningly over and greedily eyed the expanse of bare skin on show in the sunshine.

"That doesn't count," Usopp muttered and hunched himself over the fishing rod.

Nami mumbled something from beneath her sunhat.

"We're quite full, thank you Cook-san," Robin interpreted without looking up from her book.

"You're welcome, Nami-swan! Robin-chwan!" Sanji called over with hearts in his eyes, then turned them cold as stone back on the others. "In which case, you get nothing."

"Ahhh," Luffy clutched his stomach and it actually made a loud rumbling sound. "Dinner's so far away!"

Sanji closed his eyes against the sound of Luffy's grumbling digestive system. He could be strong against Luffy's appetite. Luffy wasn't starving, just inhumanly greedy.

Luffy moaned and his belly gurgled above the waves lapping against the ship.

Sanji couldn't help it. "Hmph." He stood up. "I'll make a _very_ light snack."

"YAY SANJI!" Luffy bounded down with a huge grin, apparently cured by the words. He almost landed on Chopper, lying spread-eagled on deck and sweltering in the heat.

"Eh?!" Chopper jolted from his doze in fear.

Luffy sweep him up by his legs and swung him around. "Sanji's gonna make more food, Chopper! Food! Food!"

"Yo ho ho! Is this cause for a celebration?" Brooke started dancing along with them while Luffy sang about meat.

Franky stuck a leg out as Sanji walked past. "Get a bloke some fresh cola while you're at it, kid." He flicked his sunglasses up and winked. "You know it makes sense."

Sanji pulled out a cigarette from his shirt pocket. "I'm not here to wait hand and foot on you lazy bastards." He headed toward the kitchen anyway, calculating how much food they had left in his head and sweeping his gaze appreciatively over the women.

There was a colossal bang from the crow's nest that made everyone jump.

"Oi, oi." Sanji turned and frowned. "What's that moron doing?"

"Maybe he's hurt!" Chopper scrambled out of Luffy's dance. "DOCTOR! GET A DOCTOR!- Oh wait," He ran over to start climbing the rigging. "That's me!"

The door to the crow's nest hut slammed open and Zoro stomped into view, looking grumpy and shirtless. "What's going on?"

"I'm being super," Franky replied without looking up. "You're being noisy."

"Are you hurt, Zoro?!" Chopper implored, hanging halfway up the rigging.

Luffy lifted his grin skyward. "Zoro! Sanji's making more food."

"Nevermind that," Zoro scanned the horizon and shielded his eyes from the sun like he was looking for something.

Sanji noticed he was soaked with sweat from all his suicidal weightlifting in that little hut he'd somehow claimed for his own.

"Since when do you 'nevermind' food, marimo?" Sanji watched Zoro's muscles tense as he goaded him. "You're as greedy as the lot of them and two times as heavy. Is it your big bulk making all that noise up there?"

Zoro glared down at him. "The ship moved."

"What?" Nami sat up. Sanji snapped his head back to watch her bikini slipping in very interesting ways: "Mellorine!"

"I was balancing weights with my teeth," Zoro said loudly and got his attention again. "And I dropped them because the ship moved." He folded his arms and looking down at them all as if they should instantly turn back time so it never happened.

"I didn't feel anything," Usopp shrugged. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Franky scratched his head. "With your teeth? Are you sure you didn't just… drop the weight?"

Zoro bristled. "Are you calling my teeth weak?"

"Yes. Did it land on your foot? I hope it landed on your foot." Sanji smirked as Zoro looked murderous.

"My teeth are perfect," Brooke interrupted chattily. "Perfect bone fossils! Because I'm a skeleton! SKULL JOKE!" He twirled around the mast and Zoro tore his eyes from Sanji to shoot Brooke a death glare.

"Face it, your teeth are weak, marimo," Sanji stylishly flicked open his lighter. "I could give you more calcium in your diet, but no one can give you more brains to stop you picking up things with your mouth."

"I fight with a sword in my mouth." Zoro lent ominously over the side of the crow's nest.

"And you look like an idiot," Sanji inhaled on his cigarette.

Zoro let out a low growl and started to sling a leg over the rigging. Everyone else was turning their heads back and forth between them like watching a tennis match.

Sanji suddenly spotted something obscene happening: "NO NAMI-SWAAAN!" Sanji felt his life ending as Nami stood up and pulled on a shirt.

"Are you all right, Miss Navigator?" Robin lowered her book.

"Nami-san!" Sanji was kneeling at her side in a flash, clutching her waist. "What's the matter? Are you too hot now? Let your prince undress you again!"

Nami smacked him upside the head and Sanji faceplanted. Through the haze of pain he could tell that meant she loved him. He rolled over and also saw Zoro looking a lot happier and smirking down at him.

"I don't know," said Nami anxiously. This new angle gave him a magnificent view, except stupid sweaty, shirtless Zoro was sadly still in sight over Nami's shoulder. "The log pose is still dead on. I only checked minutes ago so the ship can't have moved."

"Maybe you missed the ship turning-" Usopp was interrupted by a skull-splitting smack around the head and Sanji scurried to dodge a pile up.

"I'm the navigator! I don't miss it when we go off course!" Nami glanced back down at her wrist and bit her lip.

Luffy started laughing. "Oh well, Zoro was wrong. Can we eat?"

"I'm not wrong," Zoro sulked.

"An island!" Chopper piped up suddenly from the rigging. "I see an island!"

"What? Really?!" Luffy shot out an arm and pulled himself back on his special seat. Everyone scrambled to a place where they could see.

Sure enough, an island glittered in the distance through the haze of heat from the sea, almost like a mirage.

"Woohoo!" Luffy threw his hands in the air. "The next island!"

"You still look worried, Nami-san," Sanji crept a hand onto her back. "Do you need a massage-?"

Nami smacked his hand away and shook her head, gazing at the approaching island. "No… No. I'm sure it's fine. The ship was on course after all."

A resounding bang came from the crow's nest again as Zoro slammed back into his hut.

"He'll be fun at dinner," said Franky, exchanging a grin with Usopp.

"DINNER," yelled Luffy, swivelling to face them all. "I can't wait!"

"You're going to have to wait until we land now," Nami scolded. "We've got to prepare to dock."

"But then we'll have a BBQ on the beach?" Luffy slid down and jiggled Sanji's arm. "A big BBQ, yeah!"

Sanji pushed him away from pawing his precious swirly pink shirt, but smiled. "Sure, we can have a party."

"WOOHOO!" Luffy and Chopper started dancing together again and Usopp joined them. "Party! Party!"

"Oh my," chirped Brooke, spinning his cane excitedly. "I'm rather looking forward to getting wasted. Not that I can waste away much more, since I'm already a skeleton. SKULL JOKE!"

Robin and Franky looked pained and went with Nami to furl the sails. Luffy kept laughing and lassoed Brooke into their dancing line. "You'll have to save some booze from Zoro then!"

Sanji gazed out at the new island ahead and slowly finished his cigarette. He threw the burnt stub over the side of the ship and glanced up at the crow's nest. The moron would be even more unbearable if they let someone else do his one tiny job.

"I'll go get him to drop the anchor."

No one seemed to be listening so he carried on and hauled himself up the rigging to the hut. He paused outside the door and cleared his throat, reaching out to turn the handle.

"Marimo."

Sanji pushed open the door and felt the wind rustle the bangs over his eye as a sword whistled past his nose. He retaliated on instinct, leaning back on one leg to dodge the swipe and throwing his other one high to kick the blade aside.

"You shitty bastard, I could have been Nami-san or Robin-chan!"

"So?" Zoro stepped out from a shadowy corner by the door.

"So I'd kill you if you cut a lady." Sanji walked into the hut and snapped the door shut behind him.

Zoro looked bored. "I knew it was you." He inspected _Shuusui _where Sanji had kicked it. "Only you call me that."

"A shitty bastard?"

Zoro glared and lowered the blade. "What do you want, idiot cook?"

Sanji sauntered further into the hut, eyeing the massive weight half-sticking out of the floor where Zoro must have dropped it. The walls were lined haphazardly with other training equipment, there were mats strewn about the place, and in a dusty corner there was a small stack of used dinner plates and mugs with a spider's web over it.

"So that's where half the crockery's gone."

Zoro chose to be selectively deaf and stared out of the window. In honesty, Sanji knew those plates had been gathering there for a while. He would usually collect dirty dishes wherever he found them left by the crew; it was an automatic habit from his waiter days at Baratie. But he'd been avoiding this pile because Zoro was always lurking about in the hut. And he wasn't too keen about the spider's web.

"Why are you up here?"

Sanji reached into his jacket for a fresh cigarette. "I came up here to tell you to get your ass outside and help us dock. But you can also carry that lot down and wash it up while you're at it."

Zoro narrowed his eyes. "Don't do that in here."

"Do what?"

Zoro pointed his sword at Sanji's hand. "Stink the place up."

Sanji glanced down at his cigarette. "You've got to be joking. This place stinks of your sweat and those dirty dishes already."

"This is where I train. I don't need you clogging it up with smoke."

Sanji looked pointedly at the crater from the weight in the floor. "Good training."

Zoro frowned. The sunlight caught his profile through a window and highlighted the stubborn set of his mouth. "The ship did move."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "We're at an island, so we can't have moved from the course Nami-san set days ago." His fingers itched for the cigarette and he pulled his lighter out. "Franky won't be impressed you splintered the floor. That weight could've crashed straight through onto someone below…" Horror flooded Sanji's face. "It could've been one of the girls! That decides it- You can't use this place to train anymore, marimo."

Zoro pointed his sword toward the weight. "I dropped it because I didn't expect us to change course. I'm not moving my training anywhere."

"We didn't change course. Your teeth probably just broke." Sanji held the lighter to his cigarette and smirked. "Give me a smile and I'll tell you if they're cracked."

"I'm not smiling for you."

Sanji brought his cigarette to his lips. "Then be useful and go drop the anchor."

"Don't tell me what to do, cook." Zoro suddenly swung and sliced off the end of Sanji's newly lit cigarette. The stub bounced off his shiny left shoe and rolled away into the spider's web. "And I said don't do that in here."

Sanji stood perfectly still for a moment, then calmly slotted his severed cigarette back in its packet: "You're going to die."

Sanji launched himself forward and Zoro dodged his kick just in time. He spun low to slice at Sanji's remaining leg and the blade flashed, giving Sanji the barest second to jump clear and land backwards on his hands. He couldn't help his mouth curling with relief at the release of energy. Fighting with Zoro somehow reassured him. They hadn't been as full-out as usual since Thriller Bark…

"You're such a circus clown," Zoro told him, drawing out his second blade.

Sanji swung both his legs around in the air to smack Zoro in the head. Zoro ducked and jabbed forward at his chest, but Sanji catapulted over him to get a kick to the back.

"I thought a strike to the back was dishonourable for a swordsman?" Sanji grinned upside-down before landing neatly on his feet again.

Zoro gave an angry growl and flung himself around, both blades bearing down with such speed that Sanji's eyes widened as he realised he was too close to dodge. He did the only thing he could do: catching hold of Zoro's arms before he'd finished the swing and pushing with all his strength against the path of the swords.

The diverted momentum toppled them both sideways, and they tripped over the buried weight in the floor, skidding across the floor and smashing headlong into the pile of dirty plates.

"Gah– Web! In my hair!" Sanji spluttered in Zoro's face. "WHERE'S THE SPIDER?!" He lashed out in a panic and got a sharp kick to Zoro's ankle.

"Ow!" Zoro rolled over and tried to wrestle him down. The panelled floor that had already been damaged by the weight started to buckle under the pressure. The crater dramatically ripped open, dropping Sanji and Zoro and half the hut to the deck below with a resounding crash.

For a long moment, Sanji couldn't hear anything but a loud ringing in his ears.

"WHAT are you idiots doing?!" Nami's beautiful, loving voice started to filter through his consciousness. "God, you're both useless!"

"Zoro! Sanji!" Chopper was shrieking. "Someone get a doctor!"

Through the clouds of wreckage, Sanji blinked and saw Usopp staring crossly down at them with his arms on his hips. "I don't think they deserve medical help, Chopper."

"Definitely not!" Franky hollered from somewhere. "What are you doing to my beautiful ship?!"

"It looks like the boys were having a romp," Robin's smile was audible.

Zoro groaned into Sanji's ear.

Sanji tensed. It started to make sense why his landing hadn't hurt quite so much.

"Haha!" Luffy bounded into the fray and helpfully jumped on top of Sanji's back. "What's this? A pile up! Whee!"

"Ow!" Sanji yelped. "Get off, Luffy!"

Sanji tried to push himself up, shaking from the adrenaline, and found himself nose to nose with Zoro, both breathing hard and staring at each other. After a moment Zoro's eyes flickered and he grabbed Sanji's shoulders to shove him away. "Get off me!"

"Get Luffy off _me_!"

"WHEE!" Luffy laughed hysterically, riding Sanji's back.

"Oh my," said Brooke and took a long sip from his cup of tea. Nami propped an elbow on Robin's shoulder and both of them watched with a smirk. Usopp started commentating the struggle for everyone's entertainment.

Zoro's breath was hot on Sanji's cheek and his bare, sweaty chest was squirming beneath him while Luffy still had them pinned. This couldn't get much worse.

A spider dropped down from Sanji's bangs.

"AHHH!" Sanji shook his head frantically, the situation turning instantly from frustration to blind panic. He _hated_ spiders.

"Stop it, you idiot!" Zoro tried to rear back and had no where to go. "You're grinding broken dish everywhere!"

Sanji couldn't get Luffy off. He was laughing and playing because he had no idea a SPIDER was involved. Sanji was freaking out. He going to scream. He wished Nami and Robin weren't watching. This was going to be unmanly.

"Stop-" Zoro pulled his hands free and clapped them hard on either on side of Sanji's face. The feeling was so foreign that Sanji stopped twisting and completely froze in surprise.

"…Hm." Zoro blinked at him and reached up, carefully plucking the spider by its thread of web from Sanji's hair and dropped it on the deck where it scuttled out of sight. Easy as that.

Sanji half-closed his eyes and let out an uneven breath.

"Idiot," Zoro murmured, sounding slightly amused. Sanji dug his nails into his shoulder as silent revenge.

"Wow, what a weird island," Franky's voice floated from the stern.

"What? What about it?!" Luffy's head shot up with new interest, oblivious of what had passed beneath him, and he bounded off Sanji's back toward the bow.

"Oohhh!" Chopper ran after him and everyone followed to crowd around to look.

Sanji blinked and scrambled off Zoro, feeling completely flustered and thankful for the mass distraction. "Stupid marimo-head."

Zoro stood up, rather red from the tussle and not looking at Sanji. "Pathetic love-cook." He kicked some of the broken panels aside and picked up his swords, then he wheeled away toward the anchor.

Sanji straightened his tie to steady himself and watched Zoro stomp off. Then he spotted Nami leaning over the side with her skirt riding up.

Grateful for the re-focus, he twirled over and put his hands on her waist. "Nami-swan! Careful or you'll fall overboard!"

She ignored him. Everyone was staring at the island.

Luffy was starry-eyed. "Wow, it's covered in green balls! Do you think they're bouncy? Do you think we can eat them?"

Before anyone could answer, Luffy grabbed both ears of the Thousand Sunny and catapulted himself onto the island calling "AAAaaaAAAaaaAAAH!"

"Luffy, wait!" Nami yelled. "We don't even know what it is yet!—Argh. He's gone."

"Sanji!" He looked down to see Chopper tugging on his sleeve. "Are you and Zoro okay?"

"I'm fine and he'll live," Sanji declared with bravado, watching for his beloved Nami's reaction. He hoped she hadn't seen the spider incident. Sanji brushed a hand through his hair to make sure the web was definitely gone and then hesitantly touched his cheek, glancing back over his shoulder.

"Good." Nami hit him over the head and snapped him back to her. "Then you two can stay here and fix it until the rest of us get back."

"WHAT?" Zoro's yell echoed from lower deck. Sanji got the distinct impression he was hiding down there for some reason. If he stayed on the ship alone with the idiot, he'd probably just sleep and Sanji would be bored.

"Nami-swan!" Sanji applied his best puppy-dog face, knowing it would sway her kind, generous heart. "Don't leave me here with the marimo… I want to go with you and Robin-chwan!"

Franky was already letting a boat out of his Soldier Dock system. "I'm going because I want to test something with Mini-Merry II," he called over. "But I'm the shipwright and I don't want those two doing anything without me here to oversee it."

Nami sighed. "All right. We'll all go and you three can fix the crow's nest when we get back."

Sanji knew she couldn't bear to be parted from him. "Hai, Nami-swan!"

"Let's go before Luffy goes too far by himself," Nami said, shielding her eyes in the sun and looking out at the island. "Those bushes look taller than Brooke so they'll probably be like a maze when we're up close among them."

The island shimmered in the blazing sunlight, its coast easily curving within eyesight, but there was only the slimmest strip of beach before the strange green balls of various sizes dominated the horizon. No buildings or other vegetation could be seen.

"Weird, they're all big and green and round like a ball," Usopp muttered beside Nami and started to look unsure. "I've had bad experiences with balls in Skypeia… We don't all have to go after Luffy, right? I'll stay here and guard the ship. I think I'm getting my Must-Not-Land-On-This-Green-Ball-Island disease."

"Shut up," Nami pushed him over the side into Mini-Merry.

"I love Nami-san when she assaults people!" Sanji clasped his hands together and wiggled.

"What unusual looking plants," Robin said as Nami shoved Sanji overboard too. He landed with a thump that sent the Mini-Merry rocking.

"GAH!" Chopper jumped down onto Sanji's chest in fear of Nami.

Brooke gracefully swung his long bony legs over the side and jumped down. "I wouldn't mind a closer look."

"Let's go check it out. ZORO," Nami yelled over her shoulder. "Stop skulking around and get in the boat."

Everyone heard a loud snore from the other side of the deck.

"Oh fine," Nami threw her hands up in the air. "Stay here and guard the ship."

"I'm glad the shitty swordsman isn't coming," Sanji announced from the boat, feeling much better about this arrangement. "I'll help Nami-san and Robin-chwan down from the ship! Mellorine~" He offered his hands up in the direction of Nami's floating skirt above them, his eyes turning to hearts.

Brooke raised his arms too. "Oh, indeed. A gentleman lives to oblige. Not that I'm really living, since I'm already dead! SKU-"

Robin jumped down by herself and accidentally knocked Brooke out. "My apologies. I slipped."

Nami hoisted herself down, kicking aside Sanji's groping hands to his immense disappointment. After everyone got settled she pointed to the shore. "Let's go!"

"Then hang onto something," Franky called from the back, "because this is going to be SUPER!" He pulled on a cord that suddenly sent the boat flying toward the shore. "Cola propulsion!"

The boat sped crazily over the crashing waves, buffeting them all about. Sanji would've been delighted to hold onto Nami or Robin, but Chopper had wrapped himself around his face, wailing for his life. Sanji suddenly wished Zoro had come, because Chopper usually leapt on him instead.

"How do you stop it?!" Nami screamed as they drove straight toward the looming shore.

"…Oh yeah," said Franky over the roaring fizz of the cola.

"You don't know?!" Nami shrieked.

"AHHH!" Chopper screamed, digging his hooves into Sanji's neck.

"WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" Usopp yelled.

The boat hit dry land with a sickening thud, screeching forward on its tip hit and flinging them all up in a giant arc. Everyone screamed as they flew through the air except Robin.

They each landed with a springy bounce on top of the tallest green balls.

"…I'm alive," Chopper whispered after the shocked silence.

"I won't be if you don't GET OFF," Sanji shouted through a mouthful of fur. Chopper yelped and leapt off his face, apologising sheepishly.

"Just as Captain Usopp planned!" Usopp sat up on the bush beside him. "I knew these balls were safe!"

Sanji poked curiously at the moss-like stuff beneath them.

"What is it?" Chopper sniffed at the bush and started to look rather sick.

Nami sat up with green tufts stuck in her hair. "That was more dangerous than the Waver!"

"Nami…" Usopp clapped a hand over his mouth and sniggered. "Nami… You look like-"

"Don't laugh at Nami-san!" Sanji leant over and boxed Usopp's ear.

Franky's head popped out of a neighbouring bush. "Hey, the propulsion just needs some fine-tuning. The cola power is otherwise perfecto!"

"Hmph," Nami looked around. "Where's everyone else?"

Usopp was still sniggering and started to rip out bunches of bush and roll it into a ball.

"I don't feel very well," moaned Chopper, flopping onto his side.

"Robin?" Nami called. "Brooke?"

"You called, Nami-swan!" Sanji held open his arms for her to fling herself into.

"No, I didn't." Nami gingerly tried to look over the edge of the balls.

Usopp carefully stood on top of his bush with his gathered moss and held it up. "Hey guys! Watch this-"

"Not now, Usopp," Nami snapped and peered around. "Where's Brooke and Robin and Luffy?"

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Chopper clutched his stomach and almost rolled off.

"Chopper!" Sanji lunged and caught him.

Nami looked startled. "What's wrong, Chopper?!"

"Miss Navigator!" Robin's voice came faintly from somewhere on the ground. The bushes were too large and close together to see past the curve to the ground.

"Robin! Is it safe to slide down?" Nami gathered Chopper into her arms where he gripped her top tightly to stop swooning.

"Don't push it, Chopper," Sanji muttered grudgingly.

"Guys!" Luffy's voice came from somewhere below too.

"Let's slide down," Sanji decided. They all carefully shifted down the sides of the balls as far as they could and then dropped over the edge.

They landed on damp soil in a passage lined by the mossy underside of the tallest bushes. Luffy and Robin were sat on smaller balls of them further down the path, their faces looking strangely green in the sudden dim light. It was hot as being back in Zeff's kitchen and felt dank and claustrophobic.

"What is this island?" Franky muttered, looking around.

Chopper gave a little moan and drooped again in Nami's arms, turning very green.

"Chopper's sick!" Nami said, walking quickly over to Robin and Luffy. "He's-"

She stopped and gasped. Franky took off his sunglasses, peered closer and gave a low whistle.

Sanji stared at the pale, greenish faces in front of him. "Robin-chwan! Your complexion isn't so good… Do you need CPR?"

Nami looked down at Chopper in her arms. "They're all like it."

"I don't feel very well," Luffy whined and flopped over onto his back. "Saaanji!"

"I'm not giving _you_ CPR," Sanji told him, but knelt down beside them.

"What did you do?" Nami demanded of Luffy.

"Nothing!" Luffy yelped defensively. "I landed and found a bunch of paths and started exploring around the balls. Then I felt really bad."

"I can't diagnose myself like this," Chopper wailed in despair. "I can't help the others either! What kind of a doctor am I…"

"Shh Chopper, we'll figure it out," Nami assured him, shooting Sanji an anxious glance. She clearly needed him. He had to come to the rescue, so he puffed out his chest and took control—Except he didn't know anything about medicine beyond CPR.

"What should I do to help, Chopper?" Sanji asked, hovering over Robin.

Chopper peered over Nami's arms. "First check their temperature."

"Where's Skeleton-san and Long Nose-Kun?" Robin asked weakly as Sanji pressed a hand to her forehead.

"We haven't found Brooke yet," Nami nudged Luffy with her boot and he groaned. "This is disaster! We've only just landed and everyone's sick. What's going on?"

Franky looked up. "Now that you mention it, Usopp's still messing around on top."

"Zooooro…" Luffy moaned in Sanji's ear as he bent over to check his temperature.

Sanji shivered and quickly sat back. "Don't do that… We left him on the ship."

"What is Usopp still doing up there?" Nami tapped her foot impatiently. "Oi, Usopp!"

"Yosh! You were waiting!" Usopp's voice came from above and he suddenly jumped down into the middle of them all with a dramatic pose. "USOPP IMPRESSION."

He had gathered a ball of moss and stuck it on his head.

"What are you doing?" Sanji said flatly.

Usopp drew out a stick and advanced on Sanji with a furrowed brow and fake deep voice. "What did you say, love-cook? I'm going to kill you!" He turned and pointed his stick at an invisible foe. "Face me, Mihawk! I'm going to be the strongest swordsman in the world!"

Luffy started to crack up laughing but choked and began to retch instead.

Usopp lowered the stick, disappointed. "It wasn't that bad."

"It's not your impression. They're all sick…" Sanji snatched the stick off him and hit him with it, but couldn't help grinning at Usopp's hair. "That looks just like the stupid marimo-head."

Robin opened her eyes and tried to sit up straight. "That's it-" But she was suddenly cut off by a flash of something rushing down the path ahead of them and skidding to a stop by a small black bush.

"It's dead! Dead already! Ye already be killing me crop!"

A wizened little man was hopping from foot to foot, dressed in a tunic and looking very much like a crazed leprechaun. He tore at his long white beard in obvious agony, shaking his head where a little hat tinkled with a bell.

Luffy groggily lifted his head. "Who's the Midget-ossan?"

The little man seemed to realise everyone was watching and slowly turned to stare over at them in a way that resembled Chopper whenever 'Emergency meat supply' was mentioned.

"No no!" He lifted his hands palm up in front of him as if to ward them off. "With so many of ye gazing at me, I can't escape!"

Everyone kept staring.

"Who are you?" Franky finally demanded.

"Keeper of the treasure!" The little man piped up straight away and stamped his boots in the mud. "Ye be intruding on me precious field!"

"Treasure…" Nami repeated in an odd voice.

"Get out! Go away!" The little man fisted his hands like a toddler. "Leave me crop alone, ye thieves!"

"What a weird accent," Usopp said, scratching his nose.

"AHH!" The old man pointed in a fresh torrent of rage at Usopp. "YE BE WEARING ME CROP ON YER HEAD! Blasphemy! Defilement!"

Luffy chuckled weakly. "You're funny, Midget-ossan."

The little man paused, staring hard at Usopp. " Unless…" He staggered forward, pulling a piece of worn paper out of the front of his trousers and stroked and peered at it, gibbering to himself. "Are ye…? No. Yer not! SACRILEGE!"

"What is he?" Franky frowned.

"A pervert," Usopp decided. He nervously took the moss off his head and patted it back into a bush.

"Now let's not be hasty…" Nami handed Chopper over to Sanji and she stepped forward with a disarming smile. "We didn't mean to intrude, sir. You see, we've landed on this island because our log pose directed us to it-"

"NO!" The little man tore manically at his beard again. "Not more of ye! This island should be unplottable! The weather is killing me crop and changing the magnetic field! Ye should never have been able to come here!"

"The weather?" Sanji considered this, glancing down at Chopper in his arms. "If it's killing the crop, maybe that's what's making everyone sick."

"No," Robin spoke up and everyone looked down at her. She tried to move away from the bushes. "It's the plants."

"They be more than just plants, young lady!" The little man cried.

"The light here is strange," Robin continued, pressing her hand into the wet soil and gazing upward. "Like looking up at the underside of a lake."

Franky followed her gaze. "Wait a minute. You mean this place is like being underwater?"

"It does feel like when I fall in the sea," Luffy flopped lifelessly onto his belly.

"I be warning ye!" The little old man pointed a gnarled finger. "I'll curse ye all where ye be if ye don't be leaving right now!"

"Can't you see people are sick?" Sanji turned on him, struggling to keep his tone reasonable. After Robin's observation he understood why only the devil fruit users were being affected now.

The old man pointed angrily at the bush beside him. "Can't ye see one of me crop has died already?" It was the only black bush in sight and the little man flung his arms around it. "Baby, me darling, what happened?!"

The bush started to tremble and the little man looked alarmed as it gradually rose up with him still clinging to it.

"Yo ho ho! What's this?" A face underneath the bush grinned ghoulishly and reached up to poke the little man in the side. "Baby? Darling? I don't want to see _your_ panties."

"Brooke!" Usopp said in relief. Luffy started laughing but collapsed again.

"There you are," Brooke lifted a hand in greeting. "I wasn't feeling well. I was just lying down for a moment-"

The little man dropped to the floor at Brooke's feet and slowly looked up at him. "AHHH! A skeleton! A skeleton has killed one of me crop and he's wearing it as a wig! Stop wearing me crop as wigs!"

"I feel I need to lie down again," murmured Brooke and his bones abruptly gave out on him.

"Brooke!" Nami rush to his side.

"I don't like this island," Chopper spoke up, muffled in Sanji's lap. "I want to leave now."

"YES. LEAVE!" The little man furiously jumped up and down.

Sanji looked up at Nami, Franky and Usopp. "Robin-chan says it's like being underwater so this place is affecting the devil's fruit users. We've got to get them back to the ship."

"No problemo!" Franky threw his arms together over his head and posed. "I'm feeling particularly SUPER today! I can blast us in one go back to the ship." His ass slowly started to inflate and he reached to gather people into his lap.

"COUP DE-"

An arm managed to sprout from Franky's chest and slapped a hand over his mouth.

"If you use that on me ever again," Robin spoke quietly, "I'll-"

The rest was too quiet to hear, but Franky's hair went limp.

"It's okay, Zoro will help!" Luffy dragged in a deep breath and his body inflated. "ZOROOO!!!"

"Luffy!" Nami scolded as he deflated and flopped back on the ground. "Don't waste your energy."

"We'll manage without that guy," said Sanji, gently cradling Chopper. "He'd only get lost if he came looking anyway."

"Shut it, love-cook."

Sanji jumped and turned to look down the path behind the little old man. Zoro stood backlit by the greenish haze, wearing a fresh shirt and a hand resting on his three sword hilts.

"Zoro!" Luffy grinned as best he could. "That was fast."

"I heard you lot screaming earlier," Zoro stalked forward, looking puzzled at Luffy and the others lying on the ground. He spotted Chopper in Sanji's arms and frowned. "Then I saw the Mini-Merry crashed on shore and swam over. I was just looking down another path when I heard you yell. What's going on?"

"This place-" Nami started.

"YOU CUT THROUGH ME CROP!" The little old man bellowed, staring open-mouthed at a narrow gap in the row of balls that Zoro had come through.

"Who's that?" Zoro stared at him.

The little man turned on him and abruptly stopped. His eyes glittered feverishly in the dim light, glued to Zoro's head and growing round as saucers. "Yer here…" He whispered reverently. "Ye've really come…"

Without warning, the little man suddenly threw himself at Zoro's feet, enthusiastically hugging his knees whilst cackling with joy.

Zoro looked horrified. "Get off!"

"Ye've come! Yer here!" The little man cried in ecstasy, gripping Zoro tighter and rubbing his face against his legs.

"Well," said Usopp. "He seems to like Zoro."

"Get him off me!" Zoro flailed, trying to hop away on one foot as the little man nuzzled his knee and cooed.

"I think I'm starting to see the funny side of this island," Sanji grinned as no one moved to save Zoro.

"Thank ye," cried the little man passionately. "Thank ye for finally coming…" He looked up at Zoro with sparkling eyes. "Yer Majesty."

Sanji almost dropped Chopper.

"Majesty?!" Nami repeated in disbelief.

"What the hell!" Zoro finally shook the little man off. He knelt and bowed his head at Zoro's feet, almost sobbing with happiness.

"Yes, yes! Yer the King. Me and me crop, we've been waiting." He looked up at Zoro, nodding emphatically. "Ye've come to cure the weather and stop the intruders!"

"He's mad," Franky murmured.

"Totally bonkers," Usopp agreed.

"I'm not here to do anything," Zoro said through gritted teeth. He turned determinedly away and looked at everyone except Sanji. "Ignore him. What are we doing?"

With Luffy out of action, Sanji considered that himself and Zoro would normally take control. He stepped forward and tilted his chin at those collapsed on the ground. "Getting them back to the ship. This place is acting like seastone on them."

Zoro didn't say anything or even look at him. He strode straight to Luffy's side and Sanji narrowed his eyes.

"I'll serve the King's wishes!" The little man piped up and pointed a gnarled finger at them all.

Golden light fell over the dim passage and Sanji saw stars. "What-"

He experienced a sudden disorientating rush to the head and the world tipped upside down, everything spinning into a blur. He felt Chopper slip from his arms as the ground left his feet and he seemed to fall. The sensation lasted for barely a few seconds before he found himself landing with a thump onboard the deck of Thousand Sunny.

Sanji instantly scrambled back to his feet and raised his leg in attack stance. Zoro also had his swords drawn and was staring at the little man, perched on the side of the ship grinning impishly at them. With a sweeping glance, Sanji could see everyone was present and accounted for, spread about on the deck.

"Everyone okay?" Various dazed affirmatives drifted back to him.

"What did you just do?" Zoro demanded, pointing his swords threateningly.

The little man raised his hands in surrender. "Only yer wish, Sire!"

"We're back on the ship," Nami raised her head from the deck in wonder. "How?"

"Leprechaun magic," affirmed the little man happily.

"You're a leprechaun?" Luffy sat up, his eyes shining and looking completely better now they were back on the ship. "A real leprechaun?"

"I be a magical, mythical wonder!" The little man spread his arms wide with a grin and the bell on his hat jingled.

"WOW!" Luffy bounded over and poked the leprechaun's hat. "Do you poop?"

The leprechaun bowed low to Zoro. "Should I answer yer slave, ye Majesty?"

Zoro stared, lowering his swords slightly. "What?"

"Why do you keep calling this idiot 'Majesty'?" Sanji stamped his leg back down from his fighting stance. "The only thing he's king of is sleeping all day and getting lost."

Zoro raised his swords again with a whistling sound.

"Please!" The leprechaun tried to bat away Luffy's prodding. "Yer the king of me crop. Ye've got to save me it! That's why yer here."

Zoro shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The leprechaun gave him a desperate look and then drew something from his trousers. It was the same piece of dog-eared paper he'd been gibbering over on the island. He unrolled it and held it up for everyone to see.

It was a rare colour copy of Zoro's bounty poster. His green hair had been emphasised with extra tufts of the moss bush stuck over it like a child's poor craft project, and the bounty sum was covered over, instead replaced with a scrawled label that read in big green letters: **MARIMO KING.**

"That's how I recognised ye," the leprechaun told them. Then he made a purring sound and stroked the poster's hair.

There was a thunderous silence.

"Oi oi." Sanji slowly broke out into an enormous smile. "It's literally the marimo-head."

Nami and Usopp's faces contorted with suppressed laughter.

"COOL ZORO," Luffy was staring open-mouthed at the poster. "You never told me you were the Marimo King!"

"Zoro's the Marimo King?!" Chopper cried.

Zoro remained standing very still. "Leprechaun…"

"Ay, yer Majesty!" The leprechaun smiled brightly.

"Destroy that."

The leprechaun looked devastated. Everyone was vibrating with silent laughter.

"Nami," Zoro continued in a dangerous voice. "How long until the log pose resets?"

"I- don't know," Nami couldn't keep the laughter out of her voice. "It hasn't reset yet… Your Majesty."

Zoro spun to her with gnashing teeth. "BUT WE NEED TO LEAVE."

"Hey, if he's the king of your crop…" Usopp looked over at the island. "Does that mean…?"

Brooke stood up and peered over too. "It's an island covered in…"

"…marimo." Sanji finished. Then he started to laugh. "Giant marimo balls!"

Zoro lost it. "SHUT UP!"

"They look like massive boogies," Luffy put in helpfully.

Sanji looked amused. "Are you saying Zoro's head looks like a boogie?"

"A massive one," Luffy nodded seriously, right before Zoro leapt on him.

Robin looked happier now she understood something. "That explains why the island has all the properties of being underwater. Marimo grows in lakes."

The leprechaun nodded and started to speak over the rumpus of Luffy and Zoro fighting: "This be Akan Island, a precious island to conserve our crop. Marimo be sacred to leprechauns, it brings good luck like shamrocks and rainbows. But it started dying out. People be greedy, taking it for their own good luck faster than it can grow back. It's our dream to save the marimo."

Luffy became distracted when he heard the word _dream_ and Zoro quickly pinned him.

The leprechaun was gazing misty-eyed toward the shore. "We used our magic to give the island lake qualities above the ground so we can guard it and it can grow in peace and remain a natural treasure."

Luffy stared blankly upside down at the leprechaun, and then he grinned like a lightbulb had flashed on in his head. "Ahh. So it's Mystery Marimo."

"Treasure…?" Nami repeated in a hypnotised-like voice.

"Not real treasure, Nami!" Usopp cried. "Your eyes are strange!"

"There be real treasure too," corrected the leprechaun.

Nami was by his side in a flash, with coy eyes and pouted lips that Sanji appreciated on display. "Is that so, Mr Leprechaun? What are you doing with treasure?"

He looked at her like she was stupid. "I be a leprechaun. We have pots of gold at the bottom of the rainbow."

"Rainbow, eh?" Nami scanned the skies quickly. "Where's this rainbow?"

The leprechaun wilted sadly. "There be none anymore. That be why me crop is dying. There be no rain for months! All the other leprechauns have gone to find the culprit." His eyes flashed angrily. "We tink another island be using Dance Powder."

A shadow crossed Robin's expression. "Like Crocodile."

Luffy wiggled out from under Zoro, who was looking like he wanted to go for a nap rather than listen to any of this. "This place is like Arabasta?"

"Except with marimo and leprechauns," grinned Usopp.

"The heat is making our magic fail," the leprechaun opined, staring beseechingly at Zoro who had lay down and closed his eyes. "The island's magnetic field is getting detected by log poses. We've always prevented that! But now intruders be arriving and our rain dances don't work."

"Rain dance?" Luffy jumped up. "That sounds fun! We'll help you. What does this rain dance look like?"

"We aren't magic leprechauns-" said Sanji, but Luffy and the leprechaun were already whooping and jigging together around the deck.

"What about Nami's weather stick?" Zoro grumbled from his nap.

There was a pause.

"That might actually work," said Sanji.

Luffy stopped jigging and started laughing. "Zoro had a smart idea for once!"

"You're the last one to talk!" Zoro opened his eyes and glared.

"He probably dreamt it by accident in his sleep," said Sanji dismissively.

Zoro sat up. "What did you s-"

"Zoro's sleep-talking?" Luffy yelled excitedly, and leapt on top of him. "Wake up, wake up! You had a smart sleep-idea!"

"Can you do it, Miss Navigator?" Robin inquired.

"I've made rain clouds with the Clima-Tact plenty of times," Nami smiled and clicked her fingers. "Piece of cake."

"The king can make it rain?!" The leprechaun cried joyously.

"_I_ can make it rain," sniffed Nami. The leprechaun didn't seem to hear her and stared with besotted eyes at Zoro.

Zoro was still wrestling Luffy. "I'M AWAKE."

"You know," Nami sidled up to the leprechaun with a shifty expression. "If I… I mean, if the Marimo King makes it rain for you, there would of course be a matter of tribute."

The leprechaun looked at her bewildered. "Tribute?"

"Yes," purred Nami. "Great homage to his Majesty, in gratitude, naturally."

"Indeed indeed!" The leprechaun cried, understanding. "I will give ye one of the marimo in return for your saving me precious crop!"

Nami looked like she had a headache. "Or… I actually think the king would appreciate something else. Perhaps, I don't know, your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow he's going to so kindly make for you?"

"She's evil," Usopp muttered in a hushed and fearful tone to Chopper.

The leprechaun stroked his beard and considered. "Maybe… If the king also kills the intruders."

Chopper leapt backward. "US?!"

The leprechaun chuckled. "No, yer fine now I see yer just the Marimo King's slaves!" Sanji made a strangled noise and Zoro looked happier. The leprechaun carried on, his tone turning serious. "There be others who arrived before ye. They've been hiding in the fields, stealing me precious marimo!"

"Other pirates?" Nami guessed. "Where's their ship?"

"There be no ship. They came from no where, like ghosts… Like monsters!" The leprechaun burst out. "Massive monsters, both of them. They come and steal me marimo crop!"

"How do you know they're monsters?" Nami asked reasonably.

"Well," the leprechaun looked sheepish. "I don't. But the king has come to save the island-" He leapt from the side of the ship to throw his arms around Zoro's leg again. "The Marimo King will save his marimo! Defeat the monster thieves and make it rain!" The leprechaun was giddy with gratitude and didn't seem to notice Zoro trying to kick him away. "He can have me pot of gold in return!"

"Then of course he'll do all that!" Nami cut in loudly, Beli signs visible in her eyes.

"Ye'll use the power of yer kingly crown within the marimo," said the leprechaun dreamily, reaching up to try and touch Zoro's hair.

Zoro batted him away and folded his arms stubbornly. "I'm not being told what to do by any of you. I'm going to stay here and sleep."

"But we'll get _gold_!" Nami looked ready to kill.

Zoro ignored her.

"We'll get to see a rainbow!" Chopper cried with longing.

Zoro yawned.

"It seems to be for a good cause," Brooke said graciously.

Zoro stretched and lay back on the deck.

"Zoro," Luffy said simply. "It's the Leprechaun-ossan's dream."

Zoro's face twitched.

"And he's cool," Luffy grinned at the leprechaun's jingling hat.

Zoro closed his eyes, trying to stave off the inevitable.

"And you're the Marimo King!" Luffy concluded with gusto.

"Yer Majesty?" The leprechaun's voice trembled from his knee.

"Whatever," muttered Zoro.

"YAHOO! We'll help you!" Luffy swiped the leprechaun's hat from his head and put it on, running off around the ship and whooping. The leprechaun yelled and ran after him.

"Oh it's beautiful!" Franky wailed suddenly. "The caring, the compassion!" He pulled out his guitar and strummed a minor chord. "All for the survival of Zoro's giant marimo balls."

Zoro whirled on him. "SHUT UP."

"Enough. Let's get cracking," Nami said briskly, rubbing her hands together. "There's a pot of gold to think about. You guys get going and I'll help Franky can get the Mini-Merry back and he can fix the crow's nest while you're gone."

"You guys?" Zoro repeated ominously. "Why don't you come?"

Nami sniffed loftily at him. "Didn't you hear him? This island is supposed to be unplottable normally. I want to draw a map of it while I can and I'll be using the Clima-Tact to make it rain. Plus," she winked at Zoro. "They could be real monsters. You, Sanji and Usopp can deal with it."

"Me?!" Usopp spluttered, scratching at the edge of his bandana. "Find the monsters?!"

"Of course," said Nami blithely.

Usopp looked ill. "I think my Can't-Go-Back-Into-The-Marimo Virus is flaring up again…"

"Oh don't give me that!" Nami snapped, and clipped him around the head.

"OW!" Usopp bent over and rubbed harder at his bandana. The cloth slipped slightly and Nami gasped as they all spotted the bright red skin along Usopp's hairline.

"Usopp!" Sanji reached over and pulled off his bandana and goggles. Usopp's scalp was clearly inflamed with a painful looking rash.

Chopper transformed into his human form and cupped Usopp's head, examining him carefully. "I think… Usopp actually is allergic to the marimo he put on his head earlier."

Zoro huffed impatiently. "Why were you putting it on your head?"

"I was impersonating you," Usopp mumbled painfully.

"Oh yeah," Luffy ran past laughing with the jingling hat and the leprechaun in pursuit. "That was brilliant!"

Zoro looked apoplectic.

"You aren't allowed to harm my patient!" Chopper told him sternly and led Usopp away.

"Well in that case…" said Nami, turning to Sanji and Zoro with her hands on her hips. "You two have to go."

"What?! The others are fine!" Zoro exploded. He gestured over at Luffy dancing around with the leprechaun's hat and Robin expressionlessly suffering Brooke leaning against her shoulder and yelling "45 DEGREES!"

"They won't be if they step back on the island," said Nami sweetly. "You two are the only hope for the gold- I mean, the leprechaun's marimo. Sanji-kun will do it for me, won't you?" Nami fluttered her eyelashes.

Sanji almost combusted on the spot. "HAI NAMI-SWAN!"

"I'm not going alone with this idiot. Everyone else gets to stay here," Zoro seemed about to stamp his foot like a child. He settled for frowning mulishly. "I want to sleep."

"You slept all yesterday!"

"Ahh I'm sad I can't explore the island," Luffy drooped morosely over the rigging. Then he instantly sprung up- "I'm hungry. Food, Sanji! MEAT!"

"Not now. I've got to fulfill a princely mission for Nami-san," Sanji said, hearts in his eyes.

"Pathetic love-cook," Zoro grunted. "Let's get this over with." He looked and found the leprechaun prodding suspiciously at Nami's orange trees. "Oi you, take us to the monsters then."

"Me, ye Majesty?" The leprechaun stroked his beard and looked shifty. "I only know they be lurking in me field. I'll drop ye to the last place they took me marimo! The king will know where to go. He be nakama with the marimo. It be on his head and his head will know where to find the monsters instinctively!"

"Hey," Sanji drawled and stuck a thumb at Zoro. "You don't know this marimo-head. He gets lost on our own ship."

"No I don't!" Zoro sounded outraged.

"For the first month on Sunny you had to ask where the bathroom was every day," Sanji recited smugly and popped in a fresh cigarette. "You needed someone to walk you to the kitchen and you stumbled to bed hours after your watch ended because you'd been 'checking the perimeters'."

"It's a bigger ship than Merry!" Zoro frothed at the mouth. "And I _was_ checking the perimeters." He paused and half-glanced at Sanji. "Why were you always up to notice when I got back from watch late?"

Sanji opened his mouth, his cigarette dangling yet not quite tumbling out, and realised he had no answer.

Robin looked amused. "Good luck, boys."

"Yeah, kick those monsters's ass!" Luffy punched the air.

The leprechaun beamed at them. "I be entrusting the island to the Marimo King and his slave now!"

Sanji felt this was going too far. "I'm _not _his-"

"Save the island, Marimo King!" The leprechaun cried and pointed his finger at them without further ado. The world span crazily like before, making Sanji stumble and catch at the only other solid presence beside him.

The island ground flew up and smacked under Sanji's feet with an impact that made his knees ache. He had the strongest legs of the crew though, so of course he would've remained perfectly balanced if another clumsy body hadn't yanked on his arm and barrelled into him sideways.

He went down in the damp soil, all the air knocked out of him from the weight of Zoro landing on top.

After he got his breath back the first thing Sanji hollered was: "My SHIRT!"

Zoro winced and sat up, glaring down at him. "Don't scream in my ear, idiot."

Sanji shoved him away and stared down at the cigarette burn in the front of his shirt in despair. It had fallen from his lips on the stupid magical ride over. "That shitty midget didn't give any warning!"

Zoro glanced at him. "You landed in mud too. The back is worse."

Sanji made a small sound of horror and tried to twist and peer over his shoulder. "My beautiful shirt!"

"I think it looks better," Zoro smirked, standing up and brushing down his own immaculate white top.

Sanji fixed incensed eyes on him. "YOU were the one who made me fall over, shithead. You can pay for a new one at the next island we land on with shops."

"No," said Zoro simply and looked around. Sanji followed his gaze and saw they were once again amongst the tall marimo balls. They seemed deeper into the field this time though, in a small clearing with multiple green aisles branching off. There was evidence everywhere of the marimo being torn into, some of them hollowed out to the centre with pieces littered across the soil. The air was muggier; thick with moisture that already had Sanji's shirt sticking to him uncomfortably.

"Typical that you'd be king of such a shitty island, marimo," Sanji sniped, pushing himself up.

Suddenly the passage became even darker and there was a loud crack of thunder overhead. With a gentle pitter-patter, it started to rain.

"Couldn't she have waited until we were done?!" Zoro yelled.

"Don't complain about Nami-san," Sanji glared. "It's just rain and she'll stop it again soon."

Zoro wheeled on him. "This is your fault."

Sanji couldn't believe the cheek. "This is what now?"

"No one else calls me that stupid name," Zoro told him. "And now all this happens."

Sanji patted his shirt pocket for a new cigarette as he processed this. "I see," he started to smile but clamped down on it, lifting his face with fake solemnity. "I was the only one to recognise marimo growing on your head in place of hair. So I must have sent word ahead to a cult of leprechauns on an unplottable island that you were their Marimo King. My evil plan worked! I am victorious."

Zoro clenched his teeth. "My hair ISN'T real marimo."

"Then really," said Sanji, neatly lighting his cigarette. "It's just your fault it's green."

In response, Zoro roughly ripped the bandana off his arm and tied it around his head. "There."

Sanji inhaled deeply on his cigarette, amused at Zoro's rare sensitivity about his hair. The bounty poster must have done it. Sanji could understand bounty poster trauma… "Yeah, that solves everything. I thought you only wore that if you were serious."

"I'm serious about leaving as soon as we can," Zoro grunted. He looked overheated already, with the extra layer on his head.

Sanji tutted and moved over to him. "Don't be stupid. Take it off."

Zoro shot him a weird look. "I'm fine."

"It's too hot here for that," Sanji reached up to pull it off.

His fingers barely brushed Zoro's neck and Zoro sidestepped him, flustered. "What the hell, cook?"

Sanji lowered his hand, remembering this wasn't like Usopp or Luffy. "Fine, just don't complain later." Sanji shoved his hands in his pockets and eyed the disseminated marimo balls around them. "Something's been here and torn these things apart."

Zoro eyed him uneasily and then looked at the damage too. "Hm. Let's get this over with and hunt them then."

"Which way?" Sanji gestured at the many paths they could take further into the field.

"Let's split up. I don't want to deal with you."

Sanji blew out a soothing cloud of smoke. Without the rest of the crew it did feel strange and both of them were restless without a specific target to focus on. "Me neither, but if you head into this maze alone you're never going to find your way out."

Zoro put a hand on the hilt of his swords. "What did you say?"

"I said, we'd better stick together or you'll get lost."

"I don't get lost!" Zoro seemed to physically control himself and pointed at a random pathway. "That one. That one will do."

Sanji shrugged and headed down the passage with Zoro. The light rain reaching them through the overarching marimo was soaking through both their shirts, but the heat meant there was no danger of catching cold. The wet soil squelched underfoot as they walked and he noticed Zoro quickened his step so he was slightly ahead. Sanji started walking faster too so he was in front. Zoro lengthened his stride so vigorously that his swords clanged at his hip and Sanji glared at the back of his neck. The humidity and closeness of the passage made him feel more irritable and he kicked out at Zoro's ankle.

"Oi!" Zoro stumbled, whipping around to face him. "What's your problem?"

"Stop walking ahead of me," Sanji said testily. "You're the marimo-brain with no sense of direction."

"Remember," said Zoro lightly, starting to walk again. "Way out here with everyone back at the ship, there's no one to save you."

Sanji snorted. "I don't need saving from you."

"I'm stronger than you."

"I'm smarter _and_ stronger than you."

The edge of Zoro's mouth turned up. "So how come you freak out over a spider?"

Sanji cursed himself for letting the bastard see that. At the time he'd been more concerned about the women seeing his reaction, but on second thought Nami had screamed at the spiders and centipedes just as much as he had back on Jaya. She would've understood, like the wondrous goddess she was! Not like the stupid swordsman.

"Legs…" Sanji muttered and averted his eyes.

Zoro started to chuckle.

Sanji felt the intense desire to kick Zoro in the ankle again. "Are you telling me you love every creepy-crawly out there?"

"I don't care," said Zoro with a trace of smugness. "I'm a real man who doesn't get bothered by it."

Sanji stepped in front and pushed a piece of bush aside, letting it spring back into Zoro's face.

"Oi!" There was the whistle of a sword slicing through the air and Sanji jumped aside on reflex.

He span around in disbelief. "Attacking a man's back-" He stopped when he saw Zoro had just cut the marimo ball apart instead. Sanji sighed, feeling eternally put upon.

"I could cut through all this in a second and we'd find something," Zoro told him grumpily.

"Except this is precious stuff, marimo-head. We're supposed to be protecting it, not slicing it into smithereens."

"So don't whip it at my head," Zoro sheathed his sword and folded his arms, glaring at the marimo.

Sanji carefully leaned over the ball that Zoro had sliced, peeking through the hole it made into another passageway. It was just as dim and endless, but the ground looked especially wet, like a marsh.

"It's a bog through there," said Sanji. "Let's keep going."

"Where?" Zoro demanded, prowling restlessly. "I want to fight something."

Zoro's attitude was really starting to grate on Sanji's nerves. "We'll fight when we find the thieves, like the leprechaun said."

"I don't get bossed around by leprechauns."

Sanji inspected his cigarette with a tiny smile. "Luffy said to do what the leprechaun said."

There was a pause. Then Zoro kicked at the marimo. "Luffy isn't here." He stuffed his hands in his pockets gruffly. "You're only getting in my way. I'm going hunting."

With that, he stomped off around a row of bushes.

"Zoro!" Sanji called sharply, but too late.

There was a splash and a loud curse. Sanji leaned back and tilted his eyes skyward. He listened to the squelching noises and rustling of the bushes while he waited.

After smoking over half his cigarette, he decided to check. "Need a hand?"

"I'M FINE."

"All right." Sanji sat down on one of the scattering of baby marimo balls nestled next to the taller ones along the path. He noticed it had stopped raining. Nami-san must be cashing in and rolling sexily around in her gold by now. Sanji smiled mushily at the image.

Finally, Zoro emerged with tufts of marimo stuck to his bandana and mud coating his clothes up to his neck.

Sanji swivelled his eyes to him for a brief glance. "Nice."

Zoro didn't say anything. He immediately knelt down, ignoring the mud dripping from his body, and took his swords off. He gently laid them out on the baby bush next to Sanji's and began to meticulously clean them.

Sanji hovered his cigarette by his mouth and watched Zoro from the corner of his eye. His head was bowed over his swords, eyes intent on removing every last smear from the shining blades. Mud trickled from his bandana down the side of his face but he seemed too absorbed, not caring about himself until the job was done. Sanji had to admire his single-minded focus.

"What would you have been if you weren't a swordsman?"

Zoro's hands paused halfway down _Wadō._ He didn't raise his head but his shoulders tensed. "Don't ask pointless questions, cook."

Sanji looked away, inhaling deeply on his cigarette.

After a moment Zoro spoke again, much to his surprise: "What would you do if you didn't cook?"

Sanji blinked and realised what the question was like now that it was turned on himself.

"I'd be a different person," he said at length. Zoro nodded slightly, eyes fixed downward.

"Of course, still extremely intelligent and good-looking," Sanji continued, crossing his legs neatly. "Probably a prince or a spy. With a harem."

Zoro scoffed.

Sanji's mouth quirked and he tipped his head back against the taller marimo behind him. "I'd rather find All Blue though. Nothing's supposed to stop our dreams, right?"

For a long moment there was no noise except for the rhythmic rub on the blades beside him. Sanji slowly turned his head.

"Zoro."

The tension was still in Zoro's shoulders. He didn't answer or look up. He must have known where Sanji was going with this, but that wasn't going to stop him now. They hadn't talked about this.

"You know… what you did with Kuma-"

Zoro finished his second sword and quickly sheaved it with a dissonant clang. "That's done and gone, cook."

"You're still not-"

"Leave it."

"Right." Sanji let out a huff of irritation. "You just do what you want without saying a word to anyone else."

Zoro's head jerked up. "Everyone was unconscious!"

"I wasn't," Sanji shot at him, curling his hands into fists.

"I didn't even know you were conscious until I'd already made the offer," Zoro snapped.

"Would that have changed it?" Sanji challenged him instantly.

Zoro met his eyes with a steely sort of resolve that lifted the hairs on the back of Sanji's neck: "No."

He stood up and started to collect his swords in jerky movements. Sanji could tell he was planning to walk away. Zoro had been avoiding this sort of conversation since they'd left Thriller Bark.

Sanji stood up too.

"So will you just keep on _knocking me aside_?" Sanji violently threw his cigarette on the ground.

Zoro stopped, a sharp smile curving his lips. "Yes," he said. "You got in my way."

"Then," Sanji ground his cigarette under his heel. "I'm going to have to knock some sense into you."

Zoro's eyes narrowed into slits under his bandana and he stepped closer. "Want to try that?"

Sanji felt his pulse speed up as he met Zoro's hard stare and noted the swordsman wasn't turning away or leaving. "You're either too stupid to understand or too afraid to talk about it."

Zoro stepped in again and Sanji heard the faint slide of metal at Zoro's hip, ready to strike. He enunciated his words very slowly in Sanji's face. "What did you say?"

Sanji felt his body thrumming for action. Zoro was so close, dark eyes glittering in the half-light and tense as hell. The heat was making him lightheaded and reckless despite knowing his next words could land him with a fatal wound.

"I said you're fucking afraid."

Zoro lunged at him, taking Sanji by surprise because he expected him to draw his swords. The blow clipped the side of his jaw and he flew back into the wall of marimo balls. Zoro followed him, pinning him against the stuff, and Sanji was grateful he wasn't allergic like Usopp because the bush was starting to give way under both their weight and tickling his ears.

Sanji squirmed, realising if he sank any further into the ball he wouldn't have the leverage to get out with Zoro holding him down. He kicked out, catching Zoro's leg so he was sent off-balance. He took the opening instantly, whipping Zoro around and shoving him deep into imprint Sanji had already made.

"You still don't get it do you?" Sanji ground out, ignoring the ache in his jaw.

"I don't care what you think," Zoro told him in a voice that sliced like his blades. He tried to propel himself forward and Sanji saw his expression flicker as Zoro realised what had happened and that Sanji had him effectively trapped.

Sanji nodded, leaning over him. "You see, you're not invincible." He quickly unhooked Zoro's swords from his hip and threw them aside so he couldn't cut his way out.

"Let me up," Zoro's voice was deadly.

Sanji shoved at his chest. "No. You're going to shut up and listen for once."

Zoro's eyes flashed beneath his bandana, but before he could say anything Sanji lent in and fisted his shirt painfully at the neck.

"After all is said and done, do you know what a martyr is?"

There was a silence, broken only by their harsh breathing and the drips of mud still falling from Zoro's clothes.

Sanji's voice was uneven and his words fell heavy in the air like Zoro's weight that morning. "A dead man. That's all."

Sanji's fingers twisted so tight that they burned. Zoro didn't flinch. He kept breathing, his eyes unwavering on Sanji's as they gradually seemed to clear with a new understanding. He lifted his chin, gaze steady and sure, and as he spoke they were so close that his lips almost brushed Sanji's mouth.

"I'm not dead."

He lent back again and Sanji made a small choked sound, ready to punch him, but Zoro kept talking.

"I used to think you have to be prepared to die for your dream. That guy, though- He lives for it. It's never about death. I didn't do it for that."

Sanji went still, staring down at Zoro.

"We're still alive," Zoro said simply. "All of us."

"Well," Sanji said at length, his voice sounding hoarse in his own ears. He cleared his throat. "If Brooke were here I think he might have a joke about that."

Zoro closed his eyes like he had a headache at the reminder. Sanji kept staring at him.

"I understand," he said, and Zoro opened his eyes again. "But you've got to understand something too." Sanji loosened his hold on Zoro's shirt and pulled back slightly.

He hit Zoro in the stomach.

"Ow!"

"You're a shitty bastard who doesn't wash up or do anything useful except cut and kill things," Sanji told him and pulled out a fresh cigarette. "Also, you're stupid and ugly."

"_Why you_-"

"But," Sanji said, "we're nakama."

Zoro's eyes flickered. Sanji focused on lighting his cigarette and took a deep drag.

"You didn't have to take it all alone."

"Hm…" Zoro laid back in the marimo and stretched luxuriously. "Maybe." A smirk hovered around his lips. "But then, you're a lot weaker than me. I could take more in my little finger than your whole lanky ass could handle."

Sanji stepped back and lifted his leg. "Would you like to feel my weak ass kick between your legs while you're stuck there?"

Zoro paused and then began a fresh struggle to get himself out of the marimo. "I hate this stuff!"

Sanji grinned and stepped over to snatch Zoro's bandana off his head. "But it matches your head," Sanji chimed brightly. Zoro caught his arm, glaring hard, and tugged him forward.

"This is still all your fault for inventing that name," Zoro curled his fingers roughly around Sanji's elbow. "Don't think I won't get revenge."

"You'd regret it," Sanji replied, watching Zoro's mouth and feeling a bit dizzy from all the crazy turns in their conversation.

"I don't regret," Zoro told him, low and certain, and moved to push himself up slightly so that the bush rustled and wobbled the two of them about and started to shake uncontrollably and gave a loud war cry—

"What the-" Sanji snapped his head up and saw two shadows leaping down from the top of the marimo ball toward them…

…Yelling enthusiastically and raising swords… Misaiming for the ground behind Sanji… Landing and skidding in the mud in a tangled heap together… And sliding straight through the severed marimo ball Zoro cut in the opposite wall into the bog behind it with combined screams.

Sanji tore his eyes away from the flailing, squelching pair in the bog and looked back at Zoro. "I think we found the monsters."

"Pirate rookies," Zoro judged disdainfully. "Give me my swords anyway."

The two figures crawled out of the bog, unrecognisable through all the mud, coughing and spluttering everywhere. Then one of them instantly collapsed.

"NOOO!" The other cried, and flung himself over his companion. "Too much! You've exerted too much! You were already on your last legs, Aniki!"

"Go… on… without me," croaked the one on the ground and he flopped sideways in a swoon.

"NEVER! I'D NEVER ABANDON YOU, YOSAKU!" The other one hauled him up by his shoulders and shook him. "CAN YOU HEAR ME?! DON'T DIE! I LOV-"

"Yosaku?" Zoro spluttered.

The other jumped and span on his knees to stare at Zoro. "…Can it be?! Is it really-" He crawled forward and rudely pushed Sanji aside, gripping Zoro's trousers and peering up at him through mud-clotted eyelashes.

"ZORO-ANIKI!"

"Is it more leprechauns?" Sanji said irritably.

"Oh! We're sorry, Aniki! We took advantage of your private moment to attack because we thought you were vicious gay pirates!"

Zoro went bright red and kicked the guy away. "THAT'S NOT WHAT- SHUT UP, JOHNNY."

"Aniki!" Johnny carried on desperately. "Yosaku is DYING again."

"What?" Zoro said, flustered and still trying to find a way out of the marimo bush. Sanji took pity and held out a hand, but Zoro went even redder and batted it away. "What are you even doing here?!"

"We've been stowaways on lots of ships," Johnny explained rapidly, moving back over to Yosaku and cradling his head. "But we got found on the last one and made to walk the plank! We managed to swim until we found this weird island, but Yosaku got sick again since we got here!"

"Is he a Hammer?" Sanji asked sensibly, flicking his cigarette.

Johnny looked at him like he was insane. "No. He's got the 'skivvies'. Is your girl-Aniki on that ship we saw docked?"

Zoro took a deep breath and said: "First, give me my swords."

Johnny looked around and spotted Zoro's swords on the ground where Sanji had dropped them. "Here, Aniki!"

Zoro took them and with one swipe, cut the marimo ball apart and stood up out of it. He stepped forward and knocked Johnny hard over the head with the hilt of his sword. "THAT'S FOR WHAT YOU SAID."

"Aniki!" Johnny wailed, clutching his head.

"I remember them now…" Sanji glanced from Johnny to the other guy out cold on the floor. "They were with you guys when I left Baratie and helped with Nami-san's village."

"Have you guys been messing with these bushes?" Zoro stuck a thumb at the marimo.

"I thought they were like the girl's bushes on your ship that healed Yosaku last time!" Johnny sniffed sadly. "I've been hacking through them but so far we haven't found one orange."

Sanji sighed and shared a glance with Zoro. "Did you say you saw the ship? We've got oranges on there."

"YOU HAVE, EYEBROW-ANIKI?!" Johnny jumped up and bent to sling Yosaku over his shoulder. "THEN LET'S GO! It's this way!"

*

Later that night, Yosaku was conscious and eating everything Sanji put in front of him from the BBQ.

The leprechaun was performing a jig around the fire while expertly playing the lute.

"Ohhhh!" Luffy clapped his hands. "The leprechaun-Ossan is a musician! Hey, we need a musician! Want to join our crew?"

Franky and Usopp pointed at Brooke. "Oi, oi."

Everyone sat perched around the fire on logs. They'd managed to build a BBQ on the small strip of beach the island afforded before the fields of marimo began. Usopp had his head wrapped in bandages and ointment for his allergy. Franky had restocked his cola and was failing to tempt Robin to sit on his lap. No one was being affected by the lake properties, but there was plenty of 'Leprechaun Liquor' that was affecting most of the crew in a rambunctious way.

"This is even more delicious than usual!" Nami said, waving her spoon animatedly at the food in her bowl. "Excellent job, Sanji-kun."

"THANK YOU, NAMI-SWAAAN!" Sanji twirled and preened under her praise.

"No, it's gross," said Zoro. He shoved his empty plate toward the BBQ. "Where's seconds?"

"Just have another mug of drink," Sanji growled at him. "Seconds and thirds are only for the ladies."

"That's why Luffy's on his seventh helping," said Usopp with a grin. Luffy tried to say something through his mouthful of food and Sanji reached over to hit him over the head.

Zoro refilled his mug but still swiped another plateful of meat. Sanji let him.

"Ah," said the leprechaun. "I be so glad to see the Marimo King follows our traditional love of drink! I tink ye must've been a leprechaun in a previous life."

Chopper's jaw dropped. "Zoro was once a leprechaun?!"

"Yosh!" Usopp leapt on top of his log. "I remember well the time young Zoro was flicking through his family tree, tracing the twisting branches back into an ancient time of tunics, tights and-"

"Stop or I kill you," Zoro said in a low voice.

"I love rainbows!" Nami declared, swinging her mug around animatedly. "There was GOLD at the end of it." She giggled uncontrollably and reached down in front of her to cup and trickle a handful of gold coins from a pot between her knees. "I'M SO HAPPY!"

"I be happy too!" The leprechaun paused on his lute and fixed Zoro with shining eyes. "The Marimo King caught the monsters and made it rain and the rainbow restored some magic power! I can again cast a shield over Akan Island. Me nakama will come home again. And the Marimo King will stay here forever!"

Sanji almost dropped his BBQ tongs.

"FOREVER?" Usopp's eyes bugged out.

"FOREVER?" Chopper repeated, his eyes following suit.

Luffy sat up. "What?"

"The Marimo King will stay here forever and watch over his crop!"

"Why?" Luffy scrunched up his brow, tilting his head in a puzzled way.

"It's our leprechaun DREAM!" The leprechaun threw his arms wide.

"Ossan…" Luffy said seriously, lowering his mug. "Your dream gets in the way of my dream."

"What do you do when that happens?" The leprechaun picked up a mug of his liquor.

Luffy looked at him thoughtfully. "I kick your ass."

The leprechaun paused. "I can offer more treasure."

Nami leaned forward. "Luffy, let's just think about-"

"No." Luffy said stubbornly. "Zoro's mine."

Zoro had his head bowed silently in shadow over his drink. Sanji watched him out of the corner of his eye.

"Zoro's mine and that's final," Luffy repeated over the crackle of the bonfire.

There was a silence in which Nami gave a despairing sigh and Robin patted her consolingly on the shoulder.

The leprechaun looked devastated. Then he cunningly eyed Luffy's plate.

"I can offer meat," he suggested.

"SOLD!" Luffy stretched his arm across the circle to shake the leprechaun's hand.

"WHAT?!" Zoro's head shot up. Luffy realised he had his arm stretched over the fire and retracted it before he could shake hands anyway. He leapt up yelling "HOT HOT HOT!" and ran around the circle clutching his arm.

"ZORO-ANIKI!" Yosaku wailed and threw himself at Zoro's feet. "FORGIVE ME FOR GETTING SKIVVIES AGAIN AND TRYING TO ATTACK YOU!"

"Scurvy," corrected Chopper shyly, peeking from behind Zoro's shoulder.

"FORGIVE US, ANIKI!" Johnny threw himself beside Yosaku on the ground.

Franky shot a disgruntled look at Zoro. "I still can't believe that guy has real followers."

"What?" Usopp laid a hand conspiratorily on his beefy arm. "Have you never heard how I have _8000_ followers?..."

"Why did you attack them?" Brooke nudged Yosaku with his cane.

"We hoped they might be pirates with bounties," Yosaku said.

"Aniki would collect just enough bounty as he went along to scrape food from bars!" Johnny explained helpfully, swigging from his mug.

"That's how we learned from the b-best," Yosaku nodded sagely and then hiccupped. He turned to Johnny and they clinked their mugs together. "TO BARELY SCRAPING BY!"

"And getting scurvy," Nami added and chugged her drink.

Sanji turned over the meat on the BBQ and looked sideways at Zoro. "And such brilliant ideas as hacking into marimo for oranges. What a fine example."

Zoro glared at him over his mug and Sanji smiled.

"Ah, but we didn't know Aniki was the Marimo King!" Johnny wailed.

"TO ANIKI!" Yosaku enthusiastically lifted his mug again. "THE MARIMO KING."

"THE MARIMO KING!" Chopper and Usopp joined in and lifted their mugs too.

"You-" Zoro growled.

"Wait, wait!" Luffy bounded into the circle and almost knocked Zoro over. "I missed it! Go again!"

This time everyone cheered, even Robin and the leprechaun. Sanji only managed through stifled laughter.

After they'd all drained their mugs, refilled and settled down, the leprechaun gave a wide grin and tried to shake Luffy's hand again. "So the Marimo King stays here forever, yes?"

Zoro slammed his mug down. "Stop calling me that."

"I agree," said Sanji mildly. "It's offensive to the plants. Don't you know the marimo-head's hair isn't real marimo?"

The leprechaun froze. "It not be… real marimo?" He shook his beard and leapt over to Zoro's log, reaching up and touching his gnarled finger to Zoro's short green hair.

He looked stricken. "IT JUST BE HAIR! Very convincing soft hair like marimo… but still just hair!"

Sanji grinned at Zoro, who jerked his head away from the leprechaun's hand. "Really?"

"I'VE BEEN HAD!" The little man cried, wringing at his beard.

"Hey," Zoro held up a hand. "I kept saying I wasn't your king."

"DECEPTION! OUTRAGE!" The leprechaun yelled and hopped down from the log. He directed a sharp kick at Zoro's ankle and vanished with a pop.

"That's ingratitude for you!" Nami huffed, but kept hugging her pot of gold where she'd snatched it into her arms when the leprechaun got angry. "We still made it rain and caught Johnny and Yosaku for him."

Yosaku leaned across to Nami. "But you know, now we know this field is full of marimo, we could make the most of it. It's a natural treasure. We could probably sell it as good luck charms for a pretty sum!"

Nami's eyes instantly ka-chinged into Beli signs.

Luffy chewed loudly on his leg of meat. "No, the field is the leprechaun-ossan's dream."

"And most of us are allergic or weakened by it. It would be bad to take with us," Usopp pointed out, scratching nervously at his bandages.

"Such a shame," said Robin serenely. "I wonder, Miss Navigator, perhaps something that resembled the plant would still sell for a price."

"What are you talking about, Robin." Nami said impatiently. "We don't have any marimo and it's not as if stuff like it grows anywh-" She stopped.

All eyes slowly turned to Zoro's head. He carried on drinking and eating obliviously.

"Sanji-kun," Nami fluttered her eyelashes and thrust out her chest with a pout. "Could you cut off Zoro's hair for me?"

"ANYTHING FOR NAMI-SWAAAN! " Sanji wailed ecstatically.

"Wait, what?" Zoro looked up from his plate just in time to face Sanji flying at him with a cooking knife.

Zoro fell over the back of his log and scrambled to his feet just in time to pelt off down the beach with Sanji in hot pursuit with hearts in his eyes. Luffy started roaring with laughter and Usopp began the commentation as everyone watched them dive out of sight into the marimo.

"WHAT THE HELL, COOK?" Zoro tried to wrestle Sanji's knife off him, rolling them over in a thicket of small marimo balls.

Sanji kicked out and tried to get a good hold of Zoro's head. "Stop being difficult, this is for Nami-san!" He waved the knife manically around in the air. "It's dark this far away from the fire! Keep your head still or I'll slice it off!"

"WHAT?!" Zoro grabbed at the back of his shirt and then paused. "Wait-"

Something tickled at the side of Sanji's neck. He went still and stopped trying to wrestle Zoro.

"There's a spider on you," Zoro told him.

Sanji screamed and threw his arms up, the knife flying from his hand out of sight over the marimo. "IT'S ON MY NECK! GET IT OFF!" Sanji clawed at his neck frantically. "IT'S HUGE! IT'S GOING TO BITE ME!"

Zoro started laughing and wiggled his fingers that were caught in Sanji's clawing hand. "Idiot."

There was a deadly silence. Sanji stared down at him in disbelief.

"You… You _shitty swordsman_!" Sanji went to strangle him, but Zoro's hand curled around his neck, no longer pretending to be spider, and pulled his mouth down to his.

After a long moment, Sanji pulled back to breathe unsteadily against Zoro's lips. "What was that?"

Zoro reached up and curiously traced the spiral of Sanji's eyebrow. "Not knocking you aside."

Sanji blinked slowly. Then he started to smirk and cupped a hand to the side of Zoro's face. "Oh, so you do listen?"

Zoro shifted underneath him and suddenly flipped them over. Sanji bounced and sank a little into the soft marimo, looping an arm around Zoro's neck. Zoro leant over him and he felt his face heat up at the look in Zoro's eyes. "Sometimes."

"You know, I think this stuff must bring good luck, marimo-head," Sanji told him, weaving his fingers into Zoro's hair.

"Shut up."

Sanji closed his eyes and smiled into the kiss.


End file.
